Glass fibers have been used to reinforce various polymeric resins for many years. Some commonly used glass compositions for use in reinforcement applications include the “E-glass”, “R-glass”, and “D-glass” families of compositions. “S-glass” is another commonly used family of glass compositions that includes, for example, glass fibers commercially available from AGY (Aiken, S.C.) under the trade name “S-2 Glass.”
In reinforcement and other applications, certain mechanical properties of glass fibers or of composites reinforced with glass fibers can be important. However, in many instances, the manufacture of glass fibers having improved mechanical properties (e.g., higher strength, higher modulus, etc.) can result in higher costs due, for example, due to increased batch material costs, increased manufacturing costs, or other factors. For example, the aforementioned “S-2 Glass” has improved mechanical properties as compared to conventional E-glass but costs significantly more as well as a result of substantially higher temperature and energy demands for batch-to-glass conversion, melt fining, and fiber drawing. Fiber glass manufacturers continue to seek glass compositions that can be used to form glass fibers having desirable mechanical properties in a commercial manufacturing environment.